As a rule of thumb, and if you care enough for your stamps, you should avoid ripping them directly from the envelope as this rather hasty move will almost always damage the stamp (and cause you a heartache too!). There are several more effective ways to lift or soak off a stamp. The most common method, and one of the easiest, would be to use water as the soaking agent. However, a word of caution to collectors who live by this method: watch your water bills.
 The majority of stamps we see nowadays are printed using colourfast inks that will not 'bleed' in water, although there are no guarantees that the colours will not fade should you 'accidentally' mix bleach into the water. One concern all collectors should remember though, is that there are some old stamps that should be handled separately from the newer ones. The same rule of greater attention and gentleness should also apply to those on coloured covers that have a tendency to smudge or 'bleed' in water. All these processes should be done with as much tender, loving care as you can muster, so do make sure you keep the bowl out-of-range and away from the hands of curious, meddling children especially.
The following are some guidelines you might want to consider adopting as your new stamp-care method, or as an addition into your current repertoire of stamp-care methods. There are, of course, more ways than this; do use a method you deem you are most comfortable with because nothing beats familarity.
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